SARASOTA COUNTY – A Sarasota woman loses her bird, finds the bird, but as of this report, she doesn’t have the bird.
“I fed her since before she had feathers, I hand fed her, she’s like your child,” the owner of the missing bird, Tracy Zito, said. “She’s always on this couch every morning. I don’t even want to be here. (crying) I feel like I’m missing of piece of me, I can’t bounce back.”
Zito, considers her green cheeked conure, Tequila, an emotional support animal. Tracy suffers from anxiety.
“She kisses me and I sing ‘You are my sunshine’ every day,” Zito said.
Tequila, played with Buddy, Tracy’s golden retriever.
“She would ride on her back and play with him, with no fear of him,” Zito said.
But, it may have been Buddy who forced Tequila to take flight.
“He had come by the door, and it startled her, and she flew towards me and went right on out the door,” Zito said.
Zito watched Tequila go for the trees. That was January 25. She was found the next day by Sarasota County resident Vincent King. He and his roommate Tommy didn’t quite know what to do.
“The bird landed on my roommate’s shoulder,” roommate, Tommy, said. “We talked about it, didn’t know what to do, so we both decided to call the Humane Society.”
Tequila turned up at Sarasota County Animal Services. Meanwhile, Zito was contacting local vets and bird sanctuaries. Flyers where l posted.
A few weeks later Tommy saw one of Tracy’s flyers, called her and explained they took the bird to Animal Services.
Zito called animal services February 12th, explaining the bird is hers. But they told her someone adopted Tequila the week before.
“I felt like I was punched in the gut. I tried so hard to find her,” Zito said.
Tequila hits social media.
Zito’s Facebook post goes viral with more than 1100 shares.
“There are thousands of people crying along with her because we understand the devastation, no different than losing a family member,” Animal activist who found the post on Facebook, Theresa Lash, said.
Zito says she’ll pay anything to get Tequila back. People on Social media even offering a new bird to whoever has Tequila.
Thursday evening, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office sent SNN a report saying people from Punta Gorda adopted the bird.
We’ll bring you updates to the story as they become available.
